Will Twitter’s algorithm timeline be opt-in? (Getty)
Twitter has sent shockwaves through its user base after BuzzFeed announced on Friday that the popular social media site may be changing its timeline to an algorithm format. Will this format be default only? Will there be any way around it? Will you be forced to use Twitter’s algorithm on your timeline? Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, has just announced that the timeline isn’t changing next week.
Here’s what we know so far.
NBC News Reported That Twitter’s Algorithm Would Be Opt-In
Sources at Twitter tell me algorithms are strictly opt in.
According to Josh Sternberg with NBC News, the new Twitter algorithms would be strictly opt in. If this is true, then your timeline won’t immediately change to the new algorithm rather than seeing the most recent tweets from the people you follow.
The new algorithm was expected to reorder tweets in your timeline to what Twitter thought people wanted to see the most, rather than reverse chronological order, BuzzFeed reported. However, Dorsey has since said that the timeline isn’t changing in that way at all.
Facebook Started with an Opt-In Only, Curated Timeline
@joshsternberg didn’t Facebook start as an opt in algorithm too?
However, not everyone trusted Twitter’s word about the opt-in algorithm. As Marika Shaub, the director of social media for CNBC pointed out, Facebook’s algorithm started out as opt-in-only too. Others mentioned that you can still technically choose most recent on Facebook if you want, but you have to choose that every single time on the timeline. And still, that doesn’t mean you’ll see what all your friends post. It’s still limited.
Twitter users were worried that this algorithm change would eventually move to being a default and turn their timeline into something way too similar to Facebook’s. But Twitter has since announced those changes aren’t happening at all.
